WASHINGTON (AFP) – The latest grim data on unemployment has dealt a new blow to President Barack Obama as he struggles to maintain his party's majority in Congress in November elections.
Obama, who has been hurt by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, has been scrambling to highlight his economic management in helping lift the US economy out of its worst slump in decades.
But the latest data released Friday showed the recovery is sputtering: A Labor Department report showed 131,000 jobs were lost in July and the unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.5 percent, which is better than the worst levels this year but still painfully high.
The private sector created a modest 71,000 jobs for the month, which was not enough to offset the massive government layoff of 143,000 census-takers.
Overall economic growth slowed to a pace of 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010, and other economic indicators are soft, even though Obama points to four quarters of economic growth.
The White House has dismissed the likelihood of a double-dip recession but some economists warm of a Japanese-style economic stagnation.
With the recovery appearing to falter, two key members of the Obama economic team are on their way out. Budget director Peter Orszag announced his departure in June and top economic aide Christina Romer said on Thursday she would return to teaching.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100807/bs_afp/useconomyunemploymentpolitics_20100807061823
The economy sucks, the stimulus was a failure and now the rats are jumping ship.
Obama, who has been hurt by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, has been scrambling to highlight his economic management in helping lift the US economy out of its worst slump in decades.
But the latest data released Friday showed the recovery is sputtering: A Labor Department report showed 131,000 jobs were lost in July and the unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.5 percent, which is better than the worst levels this year but still painfully high.
The private sector created a modest 71,000 jobs for the month, which was not enough to offset the massive government layoff of 143,000 census-takers.
Overall economic growth slowed to a pace of 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010, and other economic indicators are soft, even though Obama points to four quarters of economic growth.
The White House has dismissed the likelihood of a double-dip recession but some economists warm of a Japanese-style economic stagnation.
With the recovery appearing to falter, two key members of the Obama economic team are on their way out. Budget director Peter Orszag announced his departure in June and top economic aide Christina Romer said on Thursday she would return to teaching.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100807/bs_afp/useconomyunemploymentpolitics_20100807061823
The economy sucks, the stimulus was a failure and now the rats are jumping ship.
